An Afghan woman MP was in a critical condition yesterday, after entering the eighth day of a rare hunger strike to protest against her expulsion from parliament over alleged vote fraud.

Semin Barakzai, a 30-year-old mother of three and one of nine MPs expelled from the national assembly over vote rigging claims, has refused to eat until she is reinstated to the parliamentary seat she claims to have won in 2010 polls.

Her persistence comes one day after dozens of lawmakers returned to the lower house of parliament, ending a boycott over the disqualifications after a year of bitter dispute over the polls.